Fire Cider Oxymel Helps Warm Up the Body and soothe scratchy throat!
Fire Cider Oxymel is my favorite recipe for colds and flu. First, I use it when my throat starts to feel scratchy. I take a tablespoon of it straight, not diluted in water. The taste is so intense! Sweet, sour, and pungent all at once. Second, I like to take it when I feel cold and just can’t warm up. I might feel chills at the beginning of a cold or because I got cold outdoors. In either case, this recipe works wonders in dispersing the heat from the center to the body’s periphery. And third, I take a teaspoon a day preventatively during the cold and flu season.
Health Benefits Of Apple Cider Vinegar:
- High in potassium and other minerals, it can improve acid/alkaline balance in the body.
- Strong antimicrobial properties can kill or inhibit the growth of many microorganisms, including E.coli.
- Can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar.
- Enhances the action of stimulating herbs.
- It can be used to stimulate the secretion of digestive juices.
Some people might be too sensitive to the acidity of apple cider vinegar and have an adverse reaction. For that reason, I like adding honey to my Fire Cider to mellow it. Honey improves the taste, dilutes the vinegar, and adds its healing properties; see below. Herbal honey and vinegar mixtures are called oxymels. However, even with honey, the taste remains quite pungent. So if you’d like to make an immune-supporting recipe that kids would love, here is Elderberry Syrup.
Health Benefits Of Raw Honey
- Honey contains minerals, enzymes, several B vitamins, prebiotics, and antioxidants.
- It has strong antibacterial properties and has served humans as food and medicine for millennia.
- Honey reduces irritation in the throat and on the skin.
- Pollen and propolis are what make honey so medicinal. By the way, propolis is the sticky resin from trees that bees use to protect their hives. And propolis is a powerful antibiotic, antifungal, and antiviral. While bees use it to protect their homes, we eat honey to support our health.
The herbs I use to infuse the vinegar collectively are warming, antibacterial and antiviral, immune-boosting, and circulatory stimulants.
Fire Cider Oxymel
Ingredients:
1 bulb garlic, peeled and chopped
1 medium size ginger root, peeled and chopped
1-2 Tbsp black pepper
2-3 inches of horseradish, peeled and chopped
3-4 cayenne peppers
Small bunch of rosemary, thyme, and sage
Apple cider vinegar
Raw honey, optional and to taste
Directions:
- Place all ingredients in a glass jar and pour apple cider vinegar to cover the herbs and spices. Cover tightly with a lid.
- Let infuse at room temperature for at least two weeks. Shake the mixture daily or whenever you remember.
- After two weeks of infusing, you can strain as much liquid as you’d like into a separate glass jar. Add more apple cider vinegar to the remaining herbs. And continue infusing. You can repeat this step several times, but you’ll need to infuse for longer than two weeks to ensure the potency. I sometimes let the herbs infuse for as long as a year.
- You can drink the liquid as is (it would be called just Fire Cider), or you can add an equal volume of honey and turn it into an Oxymel.
- Take a teaspoon of Fire Cider daily to prevent colds and flu. Or, at the onset of a cold, take a teaspoon or a tablespoon every four hours.
- Store in an air-tight jar at room temperature for months and even years.
